Happy New Year!

Warning!! This post has been stolen from a friend's blog. She just told the story so well I couldn't resist. But know that I was gladly an accomplice to the plot.

"Don't think. Just dance."

That was the advice given to me by a helpful man last night as I took a breather. Seems dancing is a better cardio workout than I remember.

Any excuse people find to celebrate here…they will. The last night of 2010 was no exception. In the courtyard area of our friend’s complex, there was a party going on. In the beginning it was super loud, nasal Bengali music. But then another band came on and started covering American songs. It started with that one from the 80s, “Everything I Do.” Four of us were watching (and maybe singing loudly) from the fifth story balcony. Finally someone posed the question, “Hey…does anyone else want to go down there?” “Yeeees!” We rushed past our friends calmly sitting in the living room, who reminded us that we would have to pay 600 rupees each to get in. We told them we didn’t think so. When we got downstairs, we made a plan to all just march in like we owned the place. Go time. As the third one in, I could hear “Madam! Madam! Halllllooooo!” and was vaguely aware that a was chasing me. No matter. I kept walking. Finally, I felt a hand on my arm.

“You have gate pass?”
“What? What’s that?”
“You need gate pass!”

I avoided eye contact. They corralled all four of us together and after a little discussion, they told us we could stand by the door. We stood by the door for about 2 seconds before we started edging our way further inside. I got out my camera to record the dancing going on, and the same guy who tried to oust us asked if we wanted our picture taken. Why, yes we do! He snapped a few pictures for us and then told us, “Ok, you stay. You enjoy yourselves.” I have to say, the dance party was a little sparse before we made our grand entrance. I made the decision that we were dancing and herded us all onto the floor, to the surprise and delight of several Indians that were watching us. You could say we were a little underdressed as we were all wearing what would basically amount to tshirts and jeans. There were definitely people clad in ball gowns, lots of sequins, ties, etc. But we proceeded to wave our hands in the air like we just didn’t care. And we didn’t care. Around 11:30pm we were in need of some water, so we left the party. About 11:50pm, we decided that this was our one chance to be dancing with Indians under fireworks when the New Year rang in, and we were going to do it.

We wondered if the same guard would still let us back in and tell us to enjoy ourselves. We needn’t have worried. When he saw us approaching the second time, he moved an Indian man standing in the entrance out of the way, and stretched his arm out welcoming us back in. And that is the story of how four foreigners crashed a fancy New Years Eve party …and then re-crashed it and were welcomed back with open arms. A good way to start 2011.